Lighter



July l1, 1950 P. B. MILLER 2,515,092

LIGHTER Filed Sept. 30, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 4 @W j@ /f v A TTOR EY.

July ll, 1950 P. B. MILLER LIGHTER Filed Sept. 30, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2FW 'l IN VENTOR.

BY Z

A 4 t A TOR EY.

Patented July 11, 1950 LIGHTER Price B. Miller, Kansas City, Mo.,assignor to Miller Liter Company, Kansas City, Mo.

Application September 30, 1946, Serial No. 700,310

1 claim. l

This invention relates to igniting devices of 'lighters wherein isprovided unique and novel mechanism for supplying fuel from a'hollowtank 4formed in the casing thereof to the wick compartment.

The primary aim of this invention is to provvide a lighter having acasing formed entirely from transparent material and having spacedlcompartments for fuel and a wickgand having avalved interconnectingconduit for permitting flow of fuel to the wick when the valve is open,all of which parts are readily seen by the operator to the end that theoperator may know when the supply of fuel becomes low, and to make itpossible for him to control the fiow of fuel'to the wick by watchingsuch flow.

One of the most important aims of this invention is the provision of alighter having spaced compartments for housing the wick and a supply offuel respectively, joined by a cylinder and conduit assembly and havinga manually actuated valve for opening and closing the cylinder torestrict the flow of fuel from the supply compartment to the wickcompartment except when the operator desires to saturate the wick.

An important aim of this invention is to provide in a lighter having theaforesaid separate compartments, a cylinder formed in the casing andcommunicating with the fuel supply, wherein isy reciprocably mounted aspring-loaded plunger provided with a valve on one end thereof to closethe cylinder when the plunger is held at one end of its path of travelby the spring and open the same when the plunger is manually shiftedinwardly into the cylinder.

Another aim of this invention is to provide a lighter having a speciallyformed snuffer arm, disposed to reciprocate the plunger as the same isswung to and from a closed position, and to hold the plunger with thevalve open when in a partially open position whereby the fluid may owfrom the supply tank to the wick saturation chamber as the operatortilts the lighter toward an inverted position.

Further objects, and particularly such as relate to the more purelystructural details, will be made clear or become apparent as thisspecification progresses.

In the accompanying drawing, I have shown my invention in two formswhich at present are preferred by me. Referring to the drawing:

' Eig. 1 is a side elevational view of a lighter made in accordance withone for-m of my invention, parts being broken away for clearness'.

Fig. 2 is an end elevational view thereof.

Fig. 3 is a top plan viewv thereof.

4 is a fragmentary, detailed cross-sectional view showing the variouspositions of the snuffer arm, and the valve in an open position.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged, detailed, cross-sectional view taken on line V-Vof Fig. 4, showing the valve in a closed condition.

Fig. 6 is a, side elevational view of a lighter made in accordance witha modified form of my invention,parts being broken away for clearness.

Fig. 7 is an end elevational view thereof.

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional fragmentary view showing details ofconstruction and .taken on an enlarged scale; and

Fig. 9 is an enlarged, detailed, cross-sectional view taken on lineIX-IX of Fig. 8, showing the valve in a closed condition.

One of the most aggravating problems inherent in conventional cigar andcigarette lighters is the inability of the users thereof to determinewhen the supply of fuel is becoming low. Consequently, the lighterbecomes dry most frequently when the user is unable to refill the sameuntil he reaches his home or office where a new supply of fuel ismaintained. This problem hasbeen obviated in my invention by forming thelighter fromv transparent and translucent material, preferably plastic,whereby the fuel in the lighter is easily seen at all times, and theuser may rell the same as the supply becomes low,

ythereby never having :an inoperable lighter at inopportune times.Inasmuch as the provision of a conventional lighter with a casing madefrom such translucent material Would Serve no useful purpose in that theoperator would be unable to` deter-mine whether the Wick and packingassembly was dry or saturated, my invention also includes a separatefuel supply chamber and saturation compartment, joined by the valveassembly about to be described.

In the form of my invention illustrated in Figs. l to 5 inclusive, thenumeral II) broadly designates a casing', molded or otherwise formedentirely from plastic or other translucent material, Within which iscreated a hollow fuel tank I2 .near the bottom wall thereof. This fueltank I2 extends upwardly within the casing III as at I4 and communicateswith the exterior of casing AI 0 through a short conduit I6, internallythreaded to receive a cap screw I8, the removal of which affords almeansy for filling the tank I2 with the as at 28 to present a seat for avalve 30 fixed n y to the lowermost end of the plunger 24. This valve 36comprises a circular disk formed from rubber or other resilient materialto conform to the contour of the seat 28 as a spring 32 coiled about theplunger 24 yieldably maintains the same at the [uppermost end of itspath of travel, whereby valve 3i) closes the lowermost end of thecylinder 2l). This formation of valve 30 when closed, is clearly showninFig. 5. A shoulder 33 extends inwardly from'the walls forming cylinderfor receiving the 'lowermost end of spring 2, and plunger 24 is enlargedat the uppermost end thereof as at 35 to `present .a bearing Surface forthe upper end of spring '32. Spring 32 therefore, tends to maintainplunger 24 at the uppermost end of its path of travel.

A transverse conduit 34 interconnects the cylinder 2i) and a hollow wickcompartment 36, which compartment 36 is in' turn in communication withthe wall 22 of the casing I0- through a passage 38. A wick 40 in thecompartment 36 is 'surrounded with the usual lling or wadding 42, andprojects through the passage 38 to extend a short distance beyond thewall 22, in the well known manner. This lling I2 extends into theconduit-34 as shown to surround the plunger 24, thereby preventing theflow of fluid toward the uppermost end of the cylinder 20. y

The wall 22 of casing I0 has extension 44 projecting upwardly therefrom,provided with a tube which holds the pyrophoric element 48, disposed insuch a manner that it readily cooperates with a friction Wheel 49 toproduce a spark for igniting the wick 40. The snuffer arm 25 ispivotally mounted on a shaft 50 interconnecting a flange 52 and the'extension 44.

vSnuier arm 26 extends beyond the shaft 5t to present a pair of edges 55and 53 which contact the uppermost end of the plunger 351:0 open thevalve 3U as the arm 26 is moved to and from a fully closed position asshown in Fig. 1. It is readily seen that when snuffer arm 25 in the twohorizontal positions where the Same is either fully closed or entirelyopen respectively, and when the arm 28 is in the vertical position, theedges 56 4and 58 will not be in contact with the plunger 24 andtherefore, valve 3e will remain closed. However, when arm 25 is in thetwo positions midway between fully closed and the vertical and fullyopen and the vertical positions, edges 55 and 58 respectively, will pushplunger 24 downwardly to open valve 30. Withthe exception of the fullopen position, all of the above described positions are clearly shown byfull and dotted lines in Fig. 4. A spring-loaded pin 60 bears againstarm 26 to yeldably hold the latter in any of the positions described.Pin 60 reciprocates in an opening formed in case I0 extending inwardlyfrom wall 22 adjacent cylinder 20 and below that end of the arm26'having edges 56 and 58 thereon. The spring for pin 60 iswithin suchopening below pin 60.

' When the lighter just described is not in use, valve 30- will remainclosed since snuffer arm' 26 is usually kept in a position covering theupper end of the wick Ml. Thus, the tendency common in most lighters ofthe fluid leaking out into the pocket is eliminated. A small amount offuel will collect on the valve 3@ and each time the lighter is used,this collection will pass by capillary action into the chamber 2ll andthence to the iilling 42, which action will normally maintain a suicientsupplyofl fuel in compartment 36. However, it may become necessary tooccasionally replenish the chamber 35 with fuel to saturate the filling42 and the wick 4b, which is accomplished by moving arm 26 to one of thepositions where valve 30 is open and then tipping the lighter toward aninverted position where the fuel will flow freely into cylinder 2t andthence into conduitv 34 for passage into chamber 36.

In the form of my invention illustrated in Figs. 6 to 9 inclusive, acasing I'0Il has a fuel tank I 02, extending upwardly as at IM, and isprovided with a supply opening I in virtually the same manner `as `instdescribed with respect to the form shown in Figs.l 1 to 5 inclusive. Inthis forrn however, a cylinder lila lies horizontally within the casingIlil .and opens on one wall IIIJ thereof rather than the top wall of thelighter. A plunger II'2 within the cylinder m8 has a spring IIlI coiledthereabout in such manner as to vtend to hold plunger I I2 outwardly andat one end of ilts path of travel where valve Il@ closes cylinder 8.

In this instance, the `cylinder |08 has enlarged bores I'I8 and I2 forreceiving a head I 22 and the valve II' .at opposite ends of the plungerH2 respectively, each of which forms an integral part of the plungerII2. A portion l|24 .oi the plunger H2 is enlarged to present a stop forone end of spring I'I4 while the opposite end thereof bears against ashoulder I25'in cylinder IIlIl. The valve I I5 in this instance is alsodiskshaped, however, one face thereof is beveled as at l'I for seatingagainst a resilient washer |29 in the bore I2@ to close opening I3Itherethrough when in the positionillustrated in Fig. 9.

A compartment I'26 for the wick |27 and lling |30 communicates with thecylinder IUS through a conduit I 32. yThis filling |30 likewise extendsinto the conduit VI32 and surrounds plunger I I2 to prevent leakage offluid outwardly from casing lii through bore 58. The snuier arm andignition assembly at the top of the lighter takes the same form as abovedescribed except that snuifer arm does not actuate the valve assemblyand .need not be repeated. It is readily seen that in this form,compartment E25 may be easily replenished for saturating the iilling |30and wick I2'l by pressing upon head I 22 of plunger II2 whereby valve IIt will be opened and tilting kof the lighter will allow passage of fuelthrough cylinder H38 and conduit I32 into the compartment |26.

While only two embodiments of my lighter have been illustrated anddescribed, it is understood that various changes may be 'made in theform and the arrangement of the parts without departing from the spiritof the invention or scope of the appended claim.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desiredto be secured by Letters Patent is:

In a lighter of the kind described, in combination, a hollowbocly havinga normally uppermost wall; a partition in the body defining a fuel tankatthe bottom of the body anda wick compartment near the top of' thebedy,` there being a passage in said partition interconnecting said tankand said compartment and an opening aligned with said passage and formedthrough said wall in register with the compartment; a Valve in the tankhaving a stem reciprocably mounted in the passage and the opening andeX- tending outwardly beyond said Wall; means for yieldably holding saidvalve biased toward a posi'- tion closing the passage; and an elongatedsnuifer arm pivotally mounted on said Wall for swinging movement on anaxis spaced directly above the uppermost end of said stem, said armhaving a bottom Wall and an end Wall, defining a corner on one side ofsaid pivotal mounting, movable as the arm is swung, into and out ofengagement 15 with said stem for shifting the latter and the valvetherein to a position opening and closing said passage respectively,said end Wall of the arm being spaced from said top wall of the bodywhen the arm is in a position vertical to said top 6 Wall of the body,permitting movement of the valve to a closed position When the arm is insaid position.

PRICE B. MILLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,584,258 Thorens May 11, 19262,211,500 Gabritsch Aug. 13, 1940 2,244,563 Mansfield June 3, 19412,444,956 Schmitt July 13, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date79,997 Switzerland Feb. 1, 1919 530,438 Germany July 29, 1931

